YakaholicCan you please ID the exact type of silcone glue that will adhere to this material..cause I have had completely no luck with epoxy or otherwise. Those are great pictures inside.

I had luck with Silicone II clear caulking adheasive loaded inside a 3/4" PVC endcap. I installed the silicone-caulked PVC caps while the kayak was upside down, so gravity would hold them in place while they set. Applied while dry. Flexible and stopped the cracks in the seat plugs from leaking.

3M ScotchWeld DP8010 is supposed to be a better bonding agent and can "weld" poly plastics. I have not used it but RoadRunner has.

AlohaDan -- regarding the clew attachment, I have the regular bullet block and S-hook.

Regarding leaks, I did find the 2 screws holding the padeyes on the back hatch were not fully tightened.

Roadrunner -- I have the new up/down lines so the hole for the old up/down control is plugged. I removed the plug and gooped the hole w/ silicone and replaced the plug. I need to check if the rudder control handle is leaking.

Yakaholic -- I did reinforce the seat holes per your suggestion some time ago. I don't think they are leaking.

Then, there are the holes I put in the boat for rod holders--they definitely need checking.

I have 2 Current Designs Extreme sea kayaks. Honestly, they NEVER leak a drop into the hatch compartments. I thought maybe it is the number of holes, thinking the sea kayak had almost no thru-hull holes. But, the sea kayak has about 36 thru-hull holes (the AI has about 56, including a few I put in it). The sea kayak has 2 hatches, the AI has 3. the sea kayak has 2 rudder control lines, the AI has 4. No question the AI has more holes/openings and some of them must leak.

It may be a lost cause. With so may openings into hull, some are always bound to leak. It may be the "death by a thousand cuts" syndrome. I am beginning to think of mounting some type of manual bilge pump, so the hull can be pumped out every hour or so--God forbid!

Thanks for the glue ID will try both. I have used a very small 12v pump in the hull..with any manner 12v battery arrangment..A small innertube surrounds 4lb gate battery {glue cushion to bottom of battery}..& pump is less than a lb.. has built in float sw...is less than 20$ at Walmart sporting good isle..exit tube & sw to power I just operate when we stop..have not installed to hobie cause my leak rate has not requied it yet.. Also Sevlor has a small battery 8lb that will operate the 12lb thrust 15lb weight trolling motor 2hr on high speed. Mounting into the fishing rod holds with schedule 80 pvc..Use to move to day camp sailing/swimming then use to travel asst. back..Just tried it yesterday...Change over from thru the peddle mounting and 60lbs. of 30 thrust kota/wheelchair battery arrangment...less power but less weight.. with I hope the right balance..Wind was light when hauling the added weight..This reduced weight may allow continued attachment...Removal / Installation is quick..Not as quick as my wife who just paddels and arrives at just about any location prior to me and my fooling around with all my stuff ...

12 liters of water a sprayer for watering flowers so that 1 liter of water is all you need for a soap up and shower, 120 liter ice box for the fish I never caught, 1 tent, garmin so i dont sail over to Burma by accident. 3 cans of beer Chang in ice box and a packed lunch dinner and breakfast also kept in ice box. A 50% dettol baby oil mixture for the sandflies, a couple of good books, tent, toolkit, mobile, camera, rod, reel and hope. Not a REAL expedition but a bit of fun and a chance to gain confidence in my new toy which since the rudder upgarade and new BRASS rudderpin has been behaving beautifully. Ko Khamkhao just out of high res on Google but still visible at 9.34'11"N 98.23'07"E...

as for the leaking KISS, keep a sponge in the cockpit hatch let it wick up the water and wring it out every half hour or so. Of course theres going to be some leakage when you drive whats essentialy a modified kayak hull thru the water @ 6-7 knots under sail...all those bits and pieces that have been bolted thru....

It is a fair day for kayakers, light head winds and mild temperatures. I, on the other hand, appeared to be in for another slow sailing day. I was resigned to spend the night on East Clubhouse Beach, just 4 mi west of Flamingo.Here I kill a little time to get a picture of a Portuguese Man-of-War.

Alex got this beautiful picture from his kayak.

After fooling around with the polyps for 30 minutes, I realized the weather was worsening—a squall line was moving through. Although it did make it tougher on the kayakers, who were 5 mi ahead, it was good news for me. Winds picked up and were shifting to the NW. I decided to try for ECS. I estimated landing sometime between 7-8 pm. A GPS with a “Velocity made good” measurement is very helpful. VMG is the actual speed toward your destination, even when you are moving at an angle (tacking) to the direction you want to go.

Nearing East Cape Sable at 6:15 pm. Key West is 58 miles over the horizon.

Other entertainment: photographing American crocodiles. East Cape Sable is, sort of, the dating beach for crocodiles during the spring mating season.

This croc or his friends regularly swam past our camp.

Croc trail on beach.

Day 2: Alex went up the river to Lake Ingraham. Lake Ingraham at low tide resembles one gigantic mud wrestling ring. It can be quite intimidating because you have never seen any landscape like this.

DO NOT get stuck in the mud overnight because…

You may have an uninvited bedfellow. A very large croc found along the way to Lake Ingraham.

Sleeping alligator—picture by author on a different trip. Note the interdigitated teeth on the croc above, which are absent in the alligator.

Rain, wind, and lightning storms were a daily weather diet. Forget about catching fish; although we did manage dinner and fishing entertainment as noted above. A storm passing over from the northwest. Middle Cape (4 mi distant) can be seen on the horizon at middle-left of picture. Note the pilings, which might have been part of a fishing camp before the area became a national park on Dec 6, 1947. One ranger thought the pilings were a vestige of a pre-1947 cattle grazing operation.

Day 3: A storm approaching from the southeast.

Day 4: Preparations to leave ECS.

Alex and Lou. Rob had to go back to Flamingo on Day 3.

More beaches of East Cape Sable.

Marked channel into Flamingo Marina. Storm clouds gathering over the interior of the Everglades.

Flamingo Marina

Flamingo Ranger Station

Concluding Comments.

The good: My Adventure Island performed flawlessly. All electronic equipment (GPS, VHF, SPOT, cell phone, and camera) worked fine and survived trip. No mosquitoes. Moderate temperatures. Good entertainment between catching fish for dinner, crocs, and sharks. Alex returned from his day-long side trips. Good companions. Lots of laughs.

The bad: Generally poor fishing due to continuously changing, stormy weather. Not shown anywhere in these pictures are the hordes of noseeums (biting mites) we encountered at ECS. Noseeums can turn a trip in south Florida to a trip in Hell. You must be prepared. Pray for wind. Your tent must have noseeum mesh. Position your tent door to have maximum exposure to the wind. Pray for wind. Have a head net handy (noseeum mesh). I carry a full noseeum mesh bug suit. Have a long-sleeve shirt and long-legged pants. Wear socks to tuck in your pants. Use your paddle gloves and tuck your sleeves into the cuffs. Spray exposed skin and scalp with 18-25% DEET. Pray for wind. Noseeums disappear about 10 am and return mid to late afternoon. Noseeums live in sand. They are always present on beaches, but they are minimal in the cooler months of Dec-Jan-Feb. Never duck for shelter from the wind. Instead, pray—pray for wind.

Hull leakage: Despite further tightening of screws and silicone caulking of suspected leaks, I had the usual gal or 2 of water in the hull at the end of Day 1. I had little water in the hull on the return trip which was under milder wind conditions. (Since writing these comments, I have concluded that, when all holes into the hull are sealed and screws are tightened, the final source of significant leakage is the Twist-n-Seal hatch covers. If these covers are cleaned and the black o-ring regularly lubricated with silicone grease and seated so the beveled edge properly seals, leakage can be minimized—about 1 quart in a typical day.)

Well, that looked like a wonderful trip too..mine was just a palltry 12 miles and it was only a fishing trip. Funny how we seek remote islands, camp out, fight the sandflies fry in the sun in search of that big one and catch absolutely NOTHING..(full moon, fish feeding everywhere, camera at the ready) only to return home where we know its overfished and theres nothing over a kilo under the sea, the tides are all wrong, the water murky but put a line out anyway (I mean you may as well do something as you paddle out for a beer on your local rock) and BANG you get tangled with a BRUTE of a fish. Lucky Boogie didnt see the performance, it was a complete mess line around the rudder utter panic stations (I am new to this fishing torture) but somehow I landed this queenfish.
[/img]http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd140/philip1el/queenfish.jpg[img]
For nasty critters that deet wont stop (in my case sandflies) a 50% mix of dettol and baby oil...you wont smell very nice which is probably why nothing comes close![/img]